Hi guys I'm using a HP HVTD DCR and COMCAST internet, I use to get when I search for channels up to channel 900, then something happens and I can only scan up to 135 channels.

I'm doing somthing wrong or is the cable company doing somthing right?????


Thanks

PD No cable card no Cable services

Physical channels only run from 1 to 135, with multiple subchannels possible on each one. This is all a device can work with. Cablecos remap the numbers within their boxes (and with cablecards) to virtual numbers that can be anything they want to call them. Cable decided that it was less confusing for their customers to give each channel a unique number rather than a single number with 5 or 10 subchannels (20 to 30 in the case of music channels). 823 is easier than 110.19 for example (not a real conversion, just an example of how it works).

A common situation is that the cableco changes the frequency (physical channel) but keeps the same virtual number. You'll have to rescan but their own devices just remap invisibly. I have CBS HD on 108.1 but it moves to 108.2 at times. Fortunately I have a tuner that can record the entire 108 stream (all subchannels) and I seperate the streams after recording has completed.

Only cable supplied devices can use their virtual numbers, others use physical channels for tuning, although some recording software might give you the option to manually enter virtual numbers after the scan is done but you'll have to do the conversion yourself by comparing the physical number with the programming on it and get the virtual number from the cable listings. Some software might even be able to pull the information from an online guide like TitanTV but the scan still has to be done physically (1 - 135).